


Fell in a hole

by ashtrayy



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dubious Morality, Edge needs to chill, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemy Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-consensual themes, Paps should stop being so overprotective, Underfell is not a rainbow place, but gosh they are not romanticize, there will be triggers warnings at each chapter ends (for no spoils purpose), underfell is really just not a good place, you are seriously warned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-19 11:23:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20208934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashtrayy/pseuds/ashtrayy
Summary: If Paps thought Underfell was a bad place, it is because he had never set foot in it. It was not a bad place. It was a horrible and disgusting one and he would do anything to get out of there.In which US!Papyrus ends up in Underfell for some pretty dumb reasons and has to learn to rely on and trust UF!Papyrus if he wants to survive.





	1. And he fell

**Author's Note:**

> Let's jump in a train together shall we? There will be trigger warnings in the endnotes of each chapter, so please stay alert for these if you are easily triggered or if some subjects are more touchy for you.

The day had been slow. Slow enough that Paps decided to go nap at his hot cat stand in Hotland instead of keeping watch near Snowdin. Blue would be more than enough he thought, plus, it was a beautiful day for a hot cat. Afterall, he managed to sell three of them, two more than his normal quota. 

One of his eyelight lighten up when someone would go past the stand, but else he didn’t even have the will to fight the sleepiness. His past nights had been filled with nightmares, which wasn’t surprising or new, however this time it seemed like he remembered too much of them. 

Snowdin more dust than snow, sticking to his teeth. Everything tasted like ash. The air was heavy and Blue was nowhere to be found...

The way it pulled at his mind had held him from falling asleep at night. Quick naps outside of his bedroom, however, seemed to do the trick. He was exhausted and maybe he smoked too many cigarettes to be still respecting the limit Blue had put on him, but he couldn’t summon the will to care. It helped him to cope, nicotine mixing with his magic, creating a buzz in his mind he couldn’t say he wasn’t addicted to.

When he started to notice people walking by his stand on a more regular pace, Paps fetched his phone in his pocket to look at the time. It was soon dinner time. Blue probably wouldn’t be back for another hour or two (or more if he thought this was a good human day). It did feel like a good time to go back home for himself though. 

He stretched himself as he sat up. A tiny smile setting on his face at the unintentional pun he made to himself with the name the other verses skeletons gave him. 

Paps noticed how hot he was when he got up. Forgetting to remove his sweater and regretting it later was now part of his ritual here. Taking a shortcut to Snowdin when he felt so sweaty in his sweater might not be the brightest idea ever, he would end up freezing in a second. "guess that i'll move these bones a bit" Paps scratched the top of his skull lazily, slowly walking east towards Waterfall. 

Once he reached the beautiful area, he didn’t have time to enjoy the view as something in his soul clenched, voices raising from somewhere. The skeleton froze as he looked around, was it the echo flowers? It started softly, almost a murmur, but the more he listened to it, the more it sounded like horrified and pained screams. 

His eyelights left his sockets for a moment, searching for the apparent danger, but there was nothing. A monster further on the same road was giving him a puzzled stare, his body tensed. Paps might be scary right now.

The way this Woshua was staring at him only and not the echo flowers made him realise that it was probably all in his head again. The lack of sleep was seriously getting to him. Without delay, he forced the light of his eyes back into place and raised one of his hands up in a casual greeting. Acting as if screams weren't piercing his skull. 

Enough. He thought forcefully, walking past the other monster quickly and taking a shortcut back home. 

The moment his feet touched the ground of their house entrance, his vision setting on the familiar place, his soul calmed a bit. It still felt unnerved and Paps felt messed up, but that was way better here, silence welcoming him warmly. 

He picked up his cigarette pack in his pocket, playing with the lid out of habit. Getting a smoke was a good idea, he had a spot in the capture zone. Anyway, Blue wouldn't be home for another… wait? Paps stared suspiciously at the pair of blue shoes with golden stars neatly placed with the other ones. Weren't they the one Blue wore today? 

He furrowed his brow bones, and took his cellphone again, making sure he didn't miss a message from his brother asking him to cover the guard for him. He could have gotten sick, or something. No matter, it was unusual enough to bother the big brother. 

The moment he unlocked his phone, his attention got caught by a pair of sneakers too big to be his and too dark to be his brother's one. Red? Did they meet in Snowdin forest so Blue decided to take a break? 

Without removing his shoes, Paps walked inside, looking around quickly. "hey, blue?" He called, using the name the other verses had chosen for his brother. If Red was here, then two Sans were present, would be good to not confuse them. Not getting any answers back bothered him, his left hand burrowed in his pocket, playing with the lid of his cigarette pack again. 

Dust. The front wall of their house was covered in dust.

Paps went up the stairs so fast, he almost fell head first into them. They really needed to repair the fourth step, it was too uneven for someone not paying attention. Like him on most days. Breaking a sweat, he pushed the smaller skeleton's bedroom door open, damned be politeness, his brother could scold him later.

"blue, are you… oh my fucking stars." It didn't register at first, what he was seeing was a bit too surprising. Red had his hands around Blue's head, and they were so close Paps wasn't sure how their faces couldn't be touching too. Were they… kissing? "what for stars' sake are you guys doing?" 

Suddenly, Blue pushed Red aside, his eye sockets so big the light in them could be lost there. His cheeks were a bright blue. "Papy! What about knocking?!" His tone was panicked and he clearly tried to put himself between his brother and the other Sans. Paps' eyes though were now staring holes into Red's skull. 

"what do you think you are doing with my little brother, kiddo?" Paps could feel magic pool into his right eye socket, orange filling his vision. 

Red had beads of sweat appearing on his skull, probably feeling his sins crawling on his back, but also a smug smile on his face. "nuthin' much stretch, just makin' sure blue had nothing between his teeth." His body tensed right after his answer.

This was Paps cue to shortcut forward and throw himself at his friend. "you aren't escaping!" The moment he touches Red they both disappeared into the latter's shortcut. The smaller skeleton growled at the sudden contact and they both fell badly on the ground of Paps' lab, just beside a still activated portal between their verse and Underfell. It meant that he hadn't been here for a long while. 

"you just arrived and you already jumped my brother?" The thought made him shiver in disgust, all of his protectiveness toward Blue coming forward. 

"calm down, stretch. nuthin' happened…" The fell monster raised his hands in front of him, but the smug expression was coming back. Clearly not afraid enough of Paps' magic acting up around them, threats clear in the air between them. "much." He turned around, going fast for his home portal. 

It made Paps lose it for a second, raising his hand so he could capture Red's soul with his blue magic even if he was halfway to his own verse. The small skeleton would have a really bad time for touching his little brother is everything he could thought as he poured his magic toward the other.

In a split of a second, Paps could feel his soul take a hit, hp going down from 5 to 2. But before he could react to it or scream in pain, his body got pulled forward, following the direction he projected his magic into. Red's eyes were big and startled when Paps unwillingly crossed the portal, falling on him hard.

They both ended up in the snow (wait, why was the machine near snow and not a lab?) Paps face first in it above what was probably Red's shoulder. 

The first thing he registered was the familiar buzzing sound of the portal fading to nothing and Red's body tensing under him. Then, he noticed the pain, intense pain that took his breath away. His left arm and chest felt like they were on fire but also as if someone was trying to engrave something in his bones. 

"oh, shit. fuck fuck fuck fuck." Red's voice was loud beside his skull, he was aware of the other's hands helping him to sit. The panicked and worried expression the small skeleton gave him back wasn't very reassuring he thought. Paps finally noticed how he was keeping his jaw locked to not whimper pathetically. "what the fuck happened?" Red leaned forward, fingers lingering above Paps' hurt arm, he clearly didn't dare touch it.

If his injury seemed to even bother the fell skeleton, Paps wondered if he wanted to look at it. His soul was pulsing fast and unsteady now that he could also feel something go down his bones. Probably marrow. "that's what you get for trying to make a grand escape." His laugh was weak, and he had to hold himself from squeaking uncomfortably when he finally gave a glance to his side. 

His hoodie was ripped, as if fire had devoured its side. It revealed all of the swap skeleton' left arm and a part of his shoulder and ribcage. A large, long and luminous crack was going all the way from his scapula to his carpals. Shit that hurt and looked bad. The light felt like magic devouring him, it felt like his own bright and orange, but with a twist that didn't allow him to control it. Marrow was dripping from the injury slowly mixing with Paps' magic to try and keep the bone chips and fragments from detaching completely and be permanently lost.

Red looked really nervous. "to be honest, no time fer jokes, dude." He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands or time whatsoever, which didn't reassure Paps a bit. 

"no?" He had to breathe consciously between each word to hold from letting the pain show to much. "thought we could cracks some to break down the tension." Wow, he really did good on this one he thought, but didn't dare to offer more than a smile, laughing would probably kill his side and the pain was already vivid enough. 

Red did seem to relax a bit under the dark puns, a chuckle leaving him. "try to keep it together, i'll open another portal. blue should be able to help out or at least fetch you some food." 

Paps nodded slowly. And after a moment of waiting, he realised his injury was actually eating at his magic. It was slowly but surely going down. That was bad. Really bad. His hp was low now, if his magic would go down too much… a single little hit and he could probably dust. The thought was both refreshing and terrifying. 

It took him a couple minutes to realise time was passing by, but that no portals were opening. A single blurry look toward Red made him suddenly nauseous, why was he sweating so much? What was happening? "everything's fine, kid?" He was out of breath. Cold sipping into his clothes, making the shaking of his body looks like a shiver. 

Red's hands stopped moving and he turned around slowly. "i can't get it to work."

"what?" He probably heard wrong. Right?

"we… ya are stuck here." Red's tone was filled with so much panic that Paps let himself the right to be terrified as a small "oh." Left his mouth. 

He was… stuck in Underfell. The hell of a hole he promised himself to never set foot in (Edge already reminded him kindly that he would lose that foot the moment he would move in his world with these lazy steps.)

That was. Great. He was in pain, his hp was low and his magic kept going down. And to add the cherry on top, he was stuck in one of the two most violent and cruel worlds he knew about, at the exact moment he needed to not get any more injured.

"oh."


	2. big brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paps realise how bad the situation is and Red tries to keep his shits together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Already chapter 2! Trigger warnings at the end.

It took a couple of minutes for both of them to finally calm down. Which mostly meant for them both to stop staring with wide and scared eyes toward the machine. Paps was still sitting on the floor, while Red tried once more to make it work. He hid his face in his good hand, not daring to move his injured arm. 

“it never stopped working since we manage to synchronize all of our machines… what happened?” The tall skeleton glanced toward the crack separating his bones. It was making him nauseous, that would leave more than a small scar. “and it certainly never attacked us.”

Red signs, swearing under his breath as he turned around. “fuck, i don’t know, man.” He clearly was avoiding to look at Paps’ glowing injury. “what do we do? ehhh, ya should probably call blue. he is seriously going to panic the moment he doesn’t find ya.” 

Paps closed his hand around his clavicle, it was the first time he didn’t have direct access to his brother. His inside ached badly at that realisation, he couldn’t reach Blue physically at the moment. “yeah, i should call him.” When he raised his eyes, Red was giving him a torn up look. “what?”

“eh… nuthin'. just call’im.” He was suspicious, glancing away and scratching at the back of his skull. 

“...kay.” The moment he moved to retrieve his phone in his inventory, Paps felt his vision waiver. Enough so that soon arms surrounded his waist.

“shit, dude. stay with me will ya?” 

The hold on him was strong and supporting, which was great because Paps was sure he would end up plastered on the floor without Red’s arms. He mind absently grabbed the other skeleton’s humerus, squeezing to ground himself. Hundreds of small lights were dancing in front of his eyelights, making it hard to hold back the wave of nausea that crashed on him. 

He took a deep breath, willing the frontal part of his skull to feel less clammy. Paps focused on Red’s fast breathing beside him and the way it moved his body, after what felt like hours he managed to release his friend, still leaning his skull into his good hand. “sorry, kiddo.” 

In response, Red mumbled something under his breath, but Paps wasn’t focused enough to get what he said. “what?” He squinted his eye sockets for Red to be less blurred.

“do ya want me to call blue?” He asked, probably for the second time, this time making sure to enunciate every word slowly. Worry was painfully obvious on his face, something he didn’t see that often on the fell skeleton. 

Paps started to shake his head, but voted against it when it made his world spin again. “nah, i’m fine.” Blue would freak out if Red was the one calling, he wasn’t dumb, he would know something was wrong if his brother wasn’t the one contacting him to explain. 

“bullshit.” 

After raising his hand to discard Red’s protest, he fished his phone in his inventory, glad to see it seemed to still have half of its charge. Too lazy to type the numbers most of the time, he had added his brother on the speed dial. He pressed down long enough on the number 1 for the call to take place on his screen. Once again, he was grateful these were possible even between verses.

It didn't take more than two ringtones before the sweet skeleton's voice pierced the receiver. "Papy? Where are you? I went downstairs but both of you weren't there and I cannot find you anywhere! Are you with Red? You know, Papy…" The words seemed to bubbled out of Blue's mouth, however the last part was said with more hesitation, which made Paps interrupt his brother quickly. He couldn't afford to think about his little brother's romance at the moment. It was a bit too much for his mind. 

"heya, bro. i am with red, we decided to play hide-and-seek but we kinda fell in his verse." He had to pay attention to every one of his words to not let pain slips into them. Paps expected a grumble from Blue for the pun he did, but he was met by silence.

"bro?" He asked softly. When he raised his eyelights to Red, he noticed how disapproving he seemed to be.

"... You are in Underfell?" There were none of the usual enthusiasm in Blue's voice. Paps could vision the way his perma smile was probably forced on around the edges… or maybe he had lost it. No one was in front of him after all. "Why don't you come back now?"

It hurt. Maybe more than his arm, okay no, his arm was hell, but knowing Blue was worried and away from him was a new very unwanted feeling. "the portals won't work." He glanced to his hands, feeling his magic pool at the back of his throat almost gagging him at the sight of the light spreading from the split of his bones. "but no worries, bro. your boyfriend and i will make it work again soon enough." Talking while controlling his breathing and tone was starting to take a toll on him, but it had to be done. He wanted to finish this call with his brother feeling better and confident. 

Which was supposedly not the small fell monster's goal. "stretch." He hissed between his sharp teeth, visibly annoyed at something. "won't ya tell'im about yer arm?" 

This made him tense a bit, even as Blue started sputtering about Red and himself not being anything that official. Paps shook his head slowly, he didn't need to worry his brother even more. He couldn't do anything for him at the moment. 

"anything you say, blue. maybe your bonefriend then." This joke tasted bad on his figurative tongue, as he glared at the edgier skeleton getting up. 

"if ya die, blue will forever think ya lied to him." Red was clearly getting furious. Still, Paps thought it wasn't any of his business. Blue was his little brother before anything they had going. "stop ignorin' me, fucker. don't treat him like a babybones, he isn't one!" Suddenly, Red tried to reach for the phone, Paps avoiding him without a thought. This made pain flares up so vividly he couldn't help a small yelp, phone crashing in the thin layer of snow. 

His vision was black for a minute, and all his senses were busy to keep him together. Paps became quickly too aware of the pressure his magic was exercising on his mandible and the bones of his neck. Even with his blurry sight, he leaned quickly on the side, vomiting anything he ate that day. When he let himself fall on his back, he wasn't even sure if he managed to avoid his own puke.

It took a few minutes for Red's words to finally make any sense to him at all. "it's my fault. i'm so sorry, blue. i'll protect and bring im back i swear to ya. boss will help." Paps almost wanted to laugh at the last part, Edge would certainly not help him, but his pain, dizziness and the tone of Red's voice held him back. "yer the best. i'll tell'im. talk to ya when we reach home." 

With this, it seemed like they cut the conversation. It bothered him a lot, he wanted to talk to his brother, a deadly feeling was slowly setting on his bones. He didn't want this to be his last words to Blue. 

As he brought his hand to his mandible to wipe at it, he realised how close to falling asleep he actually was. Shit. Shit. He couldn't lose it now. 

"red…" He said panicked, his messy vision getting filled with the skeleton's face. Paps couldn't read his expression, his grasp on reality slipping slowly through his fingers. 

"shit, stretch! seriously stay with me!" 

Seconds later, he lost the fight. Everything becoming black and senseless.

***  
Red looked at Paps on the ground feeling awfully powerless. He had placed his own legs under the other's head and a part of his ribcage, trying to keep him from being plastered against the snow. He couldn't imagine it to be good for the weak skeleton.

The panic in Blue's voice was still clear in his skull. _What is happening?? Papy? Are you there? Red? Is he okay?! Please tell me he is fine!_

He could only imagine how powerless the other must have felt, stuck in another universe unable to reach the most important person to him. Red closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. 

_"Where are ya bringing my brother?" He screamed trying to fight against the two guards holding him on the ground. "Give him back! I am the one that stole from ya, he didn't want me to do it!" A mix of magic and tears formed in his left socket, but he was unable to use it, control hand stuck behind his back. _

_"Well maybe next time he will teach you not to use your little hands like this!" The captain of the guard said, a vicious smile on her mutilated face as she held Papyrus limp body in her arms. She changed her tone to commanding eye raising to her guards. "The King wants font 1 alive, do what you can to make him learn with this boundary."_

_Sans shuddered more at the name she gave him than the threat behind her words. Fear was still scaring his soul as she left with his little brother._

_"Now, now, baby thief. Show me those dirty hands."_

Red opened his eyes again, flexing his hands in front of him, soul constricted. The bones weren't broken, only fine lines covering them, showing what once was there. A stupid baby bones he was at the time. 

As of now, Edge was most probably safe, or at least alive somewhere and the fact appeased him a bit. 

Blue and his situation weren't the same. Red was used to it, to know his brother might be in danger somewhere he couldn't do anything about. The bubbly skeleton wasn't. And if Red was being honest, the injury Paps was sporting was bad, more than bad. An orange matrix was in place around it to hold the bones and the marrow from falling, but subtly he could also see the faint dust of dying magic coming out of the crack. 

He didn’t think Blue would handle well the intensity of his big brother's state. Though, he had surprised him more than once. How often did he notice a bruise or a cut on his body, no matter how he tried to hide himself in his clothes and without saying much except reassuring normal chit chat he had cleaned them a smile on his face? Red would always be extremely grateful for the warmth he didn't deserve.

His fingers closed in a fist. How did they end up like this? If he hadn't joked about the situation. If he hadn't teased Paps. And if he hadn't ran away they wouldn't be in this mess.

Once more, someone was in danger because of him. 

His shoulders sagged more and more as he waited for Paps to wake up. When it became clear his friend wasn't going to open his eyes soon, Red tried his best to calm the turmoil inside him. If he was to protect both of them, he needed to get his shits together and leave the persona he used in Underswap behind for a bit. Being soft wouldn't bring him anything good.

His shoulders raised, confident and his smile took a crooked turn. Magic, thus too weak to take form, was floating around him in an aura of danger and warning. After all, he was the asshole of a king's Judge. People should fear him, move away from him. 

Stretch seemed to squirm away from his embrace in his sleep, and Red pushed the guilt for later. The swap skeleton’s magic was probably acting up, warning him of a danger he couldn't defend himself against at the moment. Red took him in his arms, securing him before he walked to the entrance of the cavern they used to hide the machine. 

And only once he was out of it did he find back the familiar feeling of shortcuts at hand reach. 

A step to the left and they both disappeared, only leaving soft traces in the snow behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings:  
\- mention of children abuse
> 
> No worries, Edge is coming up in the next chapter!
> 
> Wanna talk? Follow me on my social medias!  
Twitter: @ashtrayy__  
Tumblr: @sansybooy

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is a bad pun haha. I don't think I have to put any trigger warnings as of now, but stay alert in the other ones! Hope you will enjoy this with me. The next chapter should come out quickly.
> 
> Wanna talk? Follow me on my social medias!  
Twitter: @ashtrayy__  
Tumblr: @sansybooy


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